Does Your Graphic Artist Pay You?
31. July 2008
admin
If you do any marketing at all you’ll have to use a graphic artist to design your marketing collateral. Whether you do traditional marketing or Internet marketing, your graphics will have to make you some money. That means you’ll need to measure ROI. You could say that your graphic artist is paying you.
A graphic artist can make the difference between closing the sale and just getting someone’s attention. Some of the things a good graphic artist can do for you include:
- Sales Brochures
- Corporate Identity Packages
- Instruction Manuals
- Getting Started Brochures
- POP/POS Display Materials
- Posters
- Tent Cards
- Catalogs
- Product Packaging
- Logo & Corporate Identity Design
- Newsletters
- Web Pages/Landing Pages
- Flyers, White Papers & Reports
Investing a graphic artist just makes good sense. You pay the few hundred dollars for a logo, a brochure, or another graphic product and if that product brings in new customers then you are making your money back. A professional graphic artist will make you money.
Graphic Design | 0 Kommentare »
E-mail Marketing Still Ain’t Dead
30. July 2008
admin
You would think that the advent of Web 2.0 would have killed off the icons of Web 1.0. Not the case. In fact, one of the paragons of the Old Web is stronger than ever. E-mail marketing, it seems is here to stay.
It’s hard to run a business online these days without e-mail marketing. In fact, I’d say you can’t do it. You need to have some kind of e-mail marketing plan in place simply because people who do not spend much time Web surfing still at least have access to e-mail. Almost everyone these days is on e-mail.
By allowing your site visitors to sign up for e-mail messages from you, you actually get their permission to contact them for your specials, to notify them of important changes to your website, and to keep them abreast of the latest information regarding your company. In the past, companies spent thousands of dollars on mail outs that only returned a 1%-2% response, and they were happy to get that. Today, you can spend a measly few hundred for a much better response rate. Even if you only get a 5% response from your e-mail mail outs, that’s a much bigger ROI than with traditional mailings, and successful marketers are coming from unexpected places.
E-mail marketing is permission-based marketing. When you have permission to contact someone about your product or service, you know they are interested. And that’s much more important than sending out a mailing to a list you bought from some guy in Panama named Guido. Don’t you think?
E-mail Marketing | 1 Kommentar »
Directory Submissions: Which Directories Should You Target?
29. July 2008
admin
You likely know that directory submissions are important. But do you know which directories you should focus on?
Keep in mind that there are different kinds of directories. To give you an idea, Yahoo! started out as a directory and in many respects still is. In fact, most experts classify Yahoo! as a directory that owns a search engine. That would be an accurate portrayal.
Yahoo! is what we’d call a general directory. There is no niche. They cover everything. That’s one type of directory. There are also niche directories, local directories, blog directories, article directories, directories for women-owned businesses, and many others. But what should you focus on?
You have to consider who your audience is. Wherever your audience hangs out, that’s the most important place for you to have your business listing submitted to. But nearly all directories can be helpful. The Open Directory Project is a general directory that takes a long time to get listed in, but you do get a link back to your website and that’s important. That would be my first directory submission and I would fan out from there.
If your business is a locally run business then you should look for directories in your area. If your business exists within a particular niche - say, men’s fitness - then try to find directories in that niche that allow you to list your business.
Directory submissions take time. That’s why it may be better for you to have someone who knows the landscape do it for you. Otherwise, you could spend a long time trying to do it yourself.
Directory Submissions | 0 Kommentare »
Copywriting: The Catbird Seat Of Marketing
28. July 2008
admin
Copywriting can make or break your marketing campaign. A good copywriter will take the time to know your business and represent your business through words that sell.
Whether you need copy for a website, a company brochure, a sales letter, or a pay-per-click marketing campaign, you want the best words for the best purposes. You want a sales closer and a lead generator. Your copywriter needs to understand more than just grammar. He needs to understand your business, but also your industry. Research is an integral part of making good copywriting happen. Does your copywriter do the right amount research or does he just throw copy together haphazardly?
Why not start a relationship with a strong copywriter today?
copywriting | 0 Kommentare »
How To Set Up A WordPress Blog
27. July 2008
admin
Setting up a blog properly can be a bit confusing. Especially if you’ve never done it before. If you do it wrong then you could spend a lot of time and money trying to get somewhere only to have to back up and start over again. It’s frustrating.
The following list is a caricature. It by no means goes into all the details that it could go into regarding setting up a WordPress blog, but this is a good list just to show you what all is involved:
- Create your branding header using your logo and other graphic elements
- Upload WordPress by FTP to your domain
- Find a theme and upload your theme
- Change your header in your theme
- Create user accounts, if necessary
- Add any design customization elements to your blog if you want them
- Input your ping list
- Tweak your control settings in WordPress to require users to sign in and log in before commenting
- Enter your category titles
- Establish your blog roll
- Make sure your time settings are correct
- Install your plugins and make sure their settings are right
- Activate Akismet
- Set your preference for RSS feeds (full text or summary)
- Make sure your privacy settings are correct
- Change your permalink structure for best optimization practices
- Create your About page
- Start blogging
Setting up a WordPress blog can be rather involved. This is the simple method. There is more detail under each of these steps that I could have gone into to ensure that you get all the little things done right, but this is just to give you an idea of all that is involved. You can do it yourself or hire someone to help you. Either way, a WordPress blog is a great marketing tool.
Blog Marketing | 0 Kommentare »
Internet Marketing Articles To Help You Today
26. July 2008
admin
Many people are intimidated by Internet marketing. Afraid to try anything new, they suffer from analysis paralysis or simply cold, hard, raw fear. They want to try something new, but they are afraid that if they do they will fall on their face or be laughed out of their neighborhoods. But fear can control you in ways that you’d never let another human being do. So why let it get a stronghold?
I’ve put together some free Internet marketing articles that can help you get a better understand of the subjects that I discuss on this blog. Feel free to browse the articles and learn more about Internet marketing in general and the following topics in particular:
- Podcasting
- Mobile Search
- Viral Marketing
- Article Marketing
- E-Mail Marketing
- Blogging and RSS
- Social Bookmarking
- Maverick Copywriting
- Creative Public Relations
- Creating & Using E-Books
- Pay Per Call and Pay Per Click
- Web Design and Search Engine Optimization
- Online and Offline Marketing and Advertising
- Link Building for SEO
- Online Reputation Management
Internet marketing articles can help you understand better what marketing your small business online is all about, and when you think you’ve got the big picture under control, let us know and we can sit down with you to consult with you about the ways in which you can better market your business online.
internet marketing | 0 Kommentare »
Blog Marketing: What Can You Really Expect?
25. July 2008
admin
What can you expect from blog marketing? Is it the real deal? Will it make you rich?
Well, there are folks who have made a pretty penny from blogging, but like anything else, they’re rare birds. Not everyone is Donald Trump. He’s made billions from real estate, but many real estate agents are just scraping by. Can you get rich selling real estate?
The answer is Yes. You can get rich doing a lot of things if you are willing to do what is necessary to make it happen. Usually, that means years and years of studying, working long hours, sacrificing family and friends and other important activities, and even big failures. Are you willing to do that?
Most of us, though, just want to earn a decent, honest living. Can blog marketing do that for you? Yes it can, but you still have to be willing to do what it takes. There is no substitute for working hard or for having a solid business plan. But blog marketing does work. So what are the realistic expectations?
First, it’s not going to happen overnight. You can’t start a blog today and start earning a six-figure income tomorrow. You do have to work. Blog marketing for small businesses is not necessarily about closing sales. It is about marketing your business. A blog can help increase your SEO and search engine rankings, but it’s up to you and your website to close the sale. A blog can also drive traffic to your website. Again, it’s up to your website to close the sale. I like to recommend that you get your website ready for business before you start blogging, but if you want a good steady way to drive traffic to your website then blog marketing is one of the best tools for any business.
Uncategorized | 0 Kommentare »
Audio Articles Are The Next Boom In Article Marketing
24. July 2008
admin
Article marketing has been around for a long time. But until now there has been little interest in audio marketing. The Internet has made possible what before was only a pipe dream for many people. You can write an article, distribute it the traditional way, then turn that article into a podcast by recording yourself reading it, or having someone else record it, and submitting it as an audio article. Now you have two distribution mechanisms in place for marketing your business.
It’s really not hard. All you need to produce an audio article is a digital recorder and a sound editor. Audacity is a very popular digital recording editor that can also record your messages so you really just need that one software. Then it’s a matter of marketing your audio articles and that’s all there is to it.
For more information on article marketing and audio article production, contact Small Business Mavericks today.
Article Marketing | 0 Kommentare »
Why Your Internet Marketing Blueprint Is Like A Well-Paid Chauffeur
23. July 2008
admin
The most important thing you can do for your web business is to draw and Internet marketing blueprint. A good blueprint can navigate your business to success and that’s a lot easier than just trying to “wing it.”
When you sit down to design your Internet marketing blueprint, what you’ll be looking at are factors that help you improve your overall business. It’s more than just looking at keywords and links. It’s the big picture of your web business. For instance, you’ll ask yourself these questions:
- Is your website search engine friendly?
- Are you targeting the most important keywords for your site?
- Are you losing customers through loopholes in your website?
- Is your website attracting good links or bad links?
- What are your website statistics telling you about your website?
- What can your competition teach you to help you get the competitive advantage?
- What are your customers really looking for?
- How can you get your offers in front of more customers with one click?
- Where are the biggest online opportunities within your niche?
When you answer these questions for your online business you’ll have a much better, clearer idea of where you need to go to improve all aspects of your business. That’s what a good blueprint does. It lays out the plan for you so that all you have to do is follow it. Success in any endeavor is in the plan - the blueprint. Get your Internet marketing blueprint today.
internet marketing | 0 Kommentare »
Your Website Navigation Should Be Simple And Intuitive
22. July 2008
admin
I’ve seen too many websites where the internal navigation is not intuitive. This is a very important part of your web development. If your users cannot find what they want on your website then they will leave and never come back. Navigation is one of the most important aspects of your web design and development and I highly recommend that you put some thought into it.
For starters, you need to decide whether your navigation bar will be a top menu or a sidebar menu. There are no right or wrong answers on that. I’ve seen successful websites use both. But be careful with it because the placement of your navigation bar is important and what is so important about it is the design that you choose for your website. Some designs do better with a sidebar menu and others with a top navigation menu.
You also don’t want too many choices on your navigation menu. That will confuse your visitors and drive them away. Keep it simple. I’d say 15 menu items is the limit.
Finally, make sure that you can reach every page on your website within two clicks. Any more than that and they are too far removed from the search engine spiders to be of any use.
Those are three recommendations on keeping your website’s navigation simple and intuitive.
Web Design & Development | 0 Kommentare »